Permission
by spwarkle
Summary: Scorpius asks Rose's father a very important question, the answer to which determines the future of his and Rose's relationship; and their lives.


**I don't normally write Harry potter fanfics because there are so many out there I can normally find what I'm looking for. But with all of the Rose/Scorpius fics I've been reading lately, I thought I'd write this one. I'm sure it already exists, I just haven't looked.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. It's not mine, it never will be.**

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><p>Scorpius didn't think he had ever been in more of an awkward situation. He had imagined this scene a thousand times over in his head, but never had he realised quite how tense the air was going to be, or how the occupants of the room would act. It wasn't as if he had <em>said <em>anything. Not yet, at least.

"So, Scorpius, what exactly brings you here?" Ron Weasley had never been a tactful person. Whilst his son and wife had realised that the young man had obviously come to visit for a reason, the most senior Weasley was not giving him a chance to voice the problem in his own time.

Scorpius had never visited the Weasley family by himself before today. He would sometimes arrive separately from Rose, but he had never been in the house for more than a few minutes before she arrived. As far as he was concerned, it could have stayed that way forever, but he knew that if he wanted this to happen then he would have to do it the proper way.

He also knew that Mr Weasley wasn't very keen on him.

That, on its own, made the entire situation even more hazardous. He had been with Rose for six years, and never once had he face her father on his own. Her mother and brother accepted him, he was as much a part of the family as Rose was to them, but Rose's dad had never made any attempt to get to know the boy better.

"I, er, I wanted to talk to you all." Scorpius was aware of his dry mouth. Hermione smiled encouragingly at him. "It's- it's about Rose."

Ron and Hugo exchanged a suspicious look. "What did you do to her?" Ron almost growled. "If you've hurt her, I swear to Merlin I will-."

"No!" Scorpius shook his head. "She's fine. She's absolutely fine, I promise. It's just that... well..." He trailed off and looked down.

To his right, Hugo was deep in thought. He might have been the youngest child of the family, but he was just as bright as his older sister and he was convinced he knew what had got Scorpius so wound up. If his theory was correct, he was also pretty sure that Ron was going to explode. Scorpius was very brave indeed.

"Spit it out, Malf- Scorpius." Ron narrowed his eyes. He hated calling the blonde boy by his first name.

"I... Mr Weasley, sir, I want to assure you that this isn't a rash decision. I've been thinking about it for a long time, but I didn't know how to do it, and I thought I should get your permission first, seeing as you've never been particularly keen on me, but I didn't know how to ask you either, and I had to make sure Rose didn't find out. I don't want to bother you too much, but I promise you I mean it, I love your daughter with all my heart and I was hoping it wasn't too much to ask."

Ron began to tap his foot. If Malfoy dragged this out any longer, he would probably die of boredom. Or possibly old age.

Scorpius swallowed back what he hoped would be the last of his fear and then let out a breath. When he spoke, his voice was surprisingly steady.

"Mr Weasley, I'm here for permission to ask Rose to marry me."

For a dreadfully long moment, Scorpius thought Mr Weasley was going to kill him. His face had turned almost the same colour as his hair, his eyes were slits in his face and his hands were balled into fists. Scorpius was sure he had seen Ron's hand twitch towards the wand sitting on the table next to him. The young blonde man winced in preparation and waited for a blow to befall his face, but when, after several seconds, no blow had come, he risked a look at the family.

Hugo was smiling broadly, sitting on his hands and swaying slightly from side to side. He looked no older than twelve with his smug grin and shining eyes. Hermione was smiling more softly, clearly pleased, but her focus was on her husband, not Scorpius.

Ron's whole demeanour seemed to have changed in the time since Scorpius had closed his eyes. He was no longer tense, his face had returned to it's normal colour and if Scorpius hadn't known any better, he would have sworn that there was laughter in his eyes.

"You came all the way over here to ask permission to marry Rose?"

Then, Ron did something that he had never done before. He grinned at Scorpius. His face cracked into a wide smile and he began to laugh, chuckle after chuckle, until he was almost crying in amusement. Hugo smiled wryly as he watched his father; Hermione looked slightly worried.

"Mr- Mr Weasley?" Scorpius leant forwards slightly.

Ron managed to stop laughing and looked the younger boy straight in the eye. "Scorpius Malfoy, do you love my daughter?"

"Y-yes." Scorpius stuttered. He was utterly bewildered by the reaction. He had been expecting fighting and shouting, possibly a huge argument. He had expected to be told he could never marry her under any circumstances. He had even expected to be hexed or cursed.

He hadn't expected to be laughed at. Ron had never really seemed to like him. Scorpius, being a Malfoy, had known right from the moment he first started dating Rose Weasley that this would be a problem. He had kind of gotten used to receiving the cold-shoulder from Ron over the years. The two had barely exchanged more than a few words before now. Could it be that after all this time, all these years, Ron was finally warming to him?

"And what are your intentions towards her?" Scorpius was only vaguely aware of the question being spoken, but once it had registered in his mind, he almost laughed. Ron could have taken the line straight out of a manual on how to handle your daughter's boyfriends.

"I just want her to be happy. She deserves happiness and I hope to be the one who can give it to her."

Ron smiled again. "In that case, Scorpius," he reached out and placed a hand on Scorpius' shoulder. "Welcome to the family."

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><p>Rose was worried about Scorpius. She hadn't seen him all day. When she had woken up that morning, he had already gone out and he hadn't been home since. She knew, because she hadn't gone out yet. She had been awake seven hours and he had yet to show his face. There had been nothing to tell her where he was. No note, not a call on the muggle telephone she insisted they have in the house, nothing.<p>

It wasn't just his absence that worried her either. He had been acting strangely for a good week now. He'd been jumpier and more irritable than usual, he'd been out at work far too much and no matter how hard she tried, she just could not get a straight answer out of him as to why. Her blonde-haired boyfriend was up to something, she was sure of it, and she was worried about what it was.

After speaking to Lily, she was absolutely terrified. The younger – and admittedly slightly more eccentric – witch had managed to convince her that Scorpius was going to break up with her. Apparently, he was displaying all of the classic signs of a boy before a particularly bad break-up. If Rose had thought about it, she would have realised how ridiculous this was coming from Lily, who had been with her boyfriend since she left Hogwarts six years ago. But Rose didn't stop to think about it. Instead, she accepted it and began trying everything she could to persuade Scorpius they were perfect together.

She had home-cooked their meals every night this week. She hadn't once ordered anything in, she had made it all by herself and despite her disputable cooking skills, she was quite proud of the results. She had kept the house tidy, spotless, even, and washed Scorpius' clothes almost before they were in the laundry basket. She listened to every word he said and made an effort to be up and making breakfast for him most days.

Right now, she was tidying the fireplace. After the fire had burned out, a gust of wind down the chimney had caused the ashes to flutter out across the floor and she was sweeping them into a dustpan. Rose always did her chores by hand, it was how she had been raised.

Just as she emptied the dustpan into the bin, there was a sharp sound from behind her. Turning around, she saw Scorpius standing in the doorway of the kitchen. He was facing away from her but turned around almost immediately.

"Rose!" He almost ran across the room and swept her into his arms. He was smiling broadly and for the first time in a week, looked like himself. "I missed you."

Rose raised her eyebrows. "I missed you too. Where exactly were you?"

"Um..." Scorpius looked ever so slightly guilty. "I went to see your parents."

"You what?"

Rose felt as though her jaw had dropped through the floor. Scorpius _never _visited her parents. Whenever she invited him to a family party, or meeting, he would grumble and complain for a bit and then begin to tremble when he realised her father would be there. If Rose had made a list of places she Scorpius might be, her parents' house would have been right at the bottom.

"I wanted to talk to them about something. But never mind, that's not important. I was going to ask you something, Rose."

"Ask me what?"

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><p>Scorpius knew that he shouldn't have done it in the kitchen. He knew that he would have struggled to find a less romantic place if he tried, but he didn't want to wait. It had taken him so long to wrack up the courage to ask permission that he couldn't wait until the so called 'Perfect Moment'. No, he had to do it here, and now.<p>

"Rose Weasley," He let go of her waist and bent down to the floor. In his pocket, he could feel the little box digging into his thigh. "Will you marry me?"

On cue, the dark blue box sped out of his pocket and flew into the air, opening and hovering by his head. The ring, with it's jewels and sparkles, sat and waited for someone to touch it.

"Oh my-." Rose blinked. "Of course, I'd love to, Scorpius, but what about my dad? He'd hate to think we were engaged."

Scorpius smirked. "Actually, I believe his exact words were 'Welcome to the family'."

"You asked him?"

Scorpius nodded. "I had to get his blessing, I knew it would mean a lot to you."

"I- thank you, Scorp." Rose smiled, tears in her eyes.

"So, will you marry me?"

"Yes! Yes, a million times yes!" Rose cried, flinging herself at Scorpius before he could ever stand up. The two fell onto the floor and Rose, lying on top of Scorpius, smiled. "I love you, Scorpius Malfoy."

"And I," Scorpius caught hold of the rig box and removed the ring. "Love you too."

Taking care to savour the moment, he slid the ring onto Rose's left hand and then, he leant up to kiss her.

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><p><strong>I don't know if it's particularly great, but the longer I left it half-finished, the more it bugged me, so I had to finish it.<strong>

**Tell me if you like it, I definitely enjoy writing Harry Potter more than anything else I've ever written.**

****Spwarkle****


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